Auxiliary case



April 26, 1955 s. H. LASHLEY AUXILIARY CASE Filed Dec. 2, 1952 United States Patent 2,707,035 AUXILIARY CASE Sara H. Lashley, Atlantic City, N. J. Application December 2, 1952, Serial No. 323,557 2 Claims. (Cl. 190-52) My invention relates to a new and useful auxiliary during a journey, and packaged items, which, if the contents became accidentally exposed, might soil clothing when packed therewith in the large article of luggage. Also the small case is frequently used for articles, such as shoes, which pack in an irregular manner and cause ordinarily flat pieces of clothing to bulge and lie in an uneven condition and shoes, in particular, occupy an excessive amount of space by leaving voids between adjacent ones thereof. The benefits of using two pieces of baggage are offset to some extent by the difficulties manually transport them. The disadvantages are overcome by utilizing my invention which permits the convenient transportation of the two articles as one parcel. Therefore an object of this invention is to provide means for connecting the two articles of luggage whereby they may be manually toted in the manner of a single piece of luggage or disconnected and the smaller one hung on a persons shoulder for separate and independent use.

connecting means together whereby they constitute a shoulder strap.

A further object of this invention is to so mount the connecting means on the auxiliary case in a plane to one side of the center of gravity whereby the auxiliary case will lie in close contact with the large piece of luggage when the two are connected together.

With the above and other objects in view this invention consists of the details of construction and combination of elements hereinafter set forth and then designated by the claims.

In order that those skilled in the art to which this invention appertains may understand how to make and use the same I will describe its construction in detail, referring by numerals to the accompanying drawing forming a part hereof, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a large piece of luggage with a relatively smaller auxiliary case temporarily attached to portions of the handle of the piece of luggage by the connecting means whereby the two articles may be transported as a single parcel.

Fig. 2 is a section of the auxiliary case on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view of the auxiliary case on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is an elevation of the auxiliary case with the elements of the connecting means joined to constitute a shoulder strap.

In carrying out my invention as herein embodied represents a large conventional piece of luggage or suitcase provided with any well known type of carrying handle 11, and 12 is the auxiliary case included as a part 2,707,035 Patented Apr. 26, 1955 of my invention. This auxiliary case generally comprises the usual body 13 and hinged lid 14 and said body includes among its constituents a back wall 15 and a top wall 16. The interior of the auxiliary case, preferably, is divided into two variable compartments by a selectively shiftable partition 17 slidable in spaced par allel pairs of track grooves 18 located adjacent one end of the body 13.

In accordance with my invention one end of each of the two flexible strap elements 19 and 20 are appropriately secured to the auxiliary case in Preferably the points of attachment are to the rear of a vertical plane through the longitudinal center of the auxiliary case so as to be adjacent the plane of the back wall. In one aspect of the invention these strap elements constitute the connecting means between the individually and temporarily attached to portions of the piece of luggage 10 when the latter and the auxiliary case are in side by side relation.

of illustration I have shown one of the socket fastening members 21 and 22, respectively, spaced sufliciently to permit the free end of said strap element 19 to be looped about a portion of the handle 11 and secured together.

The other strap element 20 is shown as also provided with companion stud and socket members 23 and 24, respectively, appropriately spaced apart to allow the free end of said strap element 20 to be looped about another portion of the handle 11 and attached to each other to hold the strap element in place. In addition, the strap element 20 is provided with a supplementary stud member 25, in reverse relation to the stud member 23, and a supplementary socket member 26, in reverse relation to the socket member 24. These supplementary stud and socket members engage the socket and stud members 22 and 21, respectively, when the normally free ends of the strap elements are positioned in overlapping relation for temporarily fastening said strap elements together whereby they are joined to constitute a shoulder strap as depicted in Fig. 4.

In practice, the auxiliary case is connected to the piece of luggage, as shown and described herein, and both articles of baggage transported by merely gripping the handle of said piece of luggage. This provides a rather compact parcel which can be readily handled by the use of one hand leaving the other hand free to carry other accessories and/or for other purposes. generally,

the two pieces in convenient locations in a room or apartment. Also, when the large piece of luggage is not needed, the normally Of course I do not wish to be limited to the exact details of construction herein shown and described as these may be varied within the scope and objects of my invention.

Having described my invention what I claim as new and useful is:

1. An auxiliary case of small size for use in connection with a relatively large piece of luggage having a carrying handle, said auxiliary case comprising a body including a top wall, a pair of flexible connecting elements having" one end of each permanently secured to the body top wall at separated locations longitudinally of said body top wall, a pair of companion cooperating fastening members on the other and normally free ends of each of said connecting elements to secure said other ends in loop formation about individual'spaced portions of the carrying handle of the piece of luggage, and supplementary fastening members on saidother end of one of the connecting elements for selective cooperation with a part of the companion fastening members on the other connecting element for temporarily and detachably joining the said other or free ends of the connecting elements together to function as a shoulder strap. 2. An auxiliary case comprising a body with a lid therefor, said body including atop wall, a pair of flexible connecting elements having one end of each secured to the body top wall at separated locations longitudinally of said top wall, and fastening means on the other or normally free ends of each of said connecting elements for selectively attaching said normallyfree ends separately to a support or joining said ends to constitute a shoulder strap, said fastening means on one connecting element including a pair 0 positioned to secure mation and a p members in reverse members, and the fastenin f companion cooperating members the normally free end in a loop forair of dissimilar supplementary fastening relation to the pair of companion g means on the other connecting element including a pair of companion cooperating members positioned to selectlvely secure the normally free end of said formation or recerv bers for joining the other connecting element in a together as a shoulder strap.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS France Oct. 11,

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